BJP councillor locks out Muslim family in Moradabad

A Muslim family that had recently bought a house in a Hindu
neighbourhood in the Katghar area of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, has
decided to sell the property after the local BJP councillor locked them
out of their own premises on Wednesday night. The councillor also tried
to incite a mob against the family.
The incident comes just weeks after two youths in Mumbai were refused a job and a house respectively for being Muslim.
BJP councillor Vidyasharan Sharma, a Hindu hardliner, locked the
house of Shahana Parveen with locks of his own and announced that he
would not allow any Muslim family to stay in a Brahman neighbourhood of
the city.
When Ms. Parveen and her family reached their house on Wednesday
night, they saw an extra lock on the door. When she sought to ask her
new neighbours, she saw the mob being egged on by the BJP leaders.
“When we tried asking from the neighbours what was going on, we saw
Sharma with a mob. He told us that we being Muslims could not stay in a
Hindu area. Now we have decided to sell the house and vacate it as soon
as possible,” Ms Parveen told The Hindu on phone.
“We will soon shift to the nearby Muslim locality of Maqbara. We do
not want to stay against people's wishes in their area,” said the
distressed owner.
When the police reached the spot, Mr Sharma categorically told the
policemen that “whatever be the case, Muslims can’t stay here. Brahmin
families live in the locality and under no circumstances we will allow a
Muslim family to live in between them.”
When The Hindu contacted Mr Sharma for his reaction, he denied however doing anything illegal.
In a video of the entire episode, widely circulated on Whatsapp,
other social media platforms and also broadcast on local news channels,
Mr Sharma is heard speaking about Muslims in a manner which is
unlawful.
Ms Parveen bought the house from Shashi Prabha on June 11. Ms. Prabha, the previous owner told The Hindu
that she had found it difficult to sell the house for last two years as
the BJP councillor had warned her against selling the house to
non-Hindus.
“We have been trying to sell the house but we were not getting any
buyers. Sharma had warned us not to sell the house to any non-Hindus,”
she said.

Though Ms Parveen has complained to the police
against Mr Sharma, she has decided to sell and move as she does not want
to live “with the threats”.

Map of L K Advani's Rath Yatra of 1990

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